Category Archives: Blog

You have a channel into the ocean,
yet you ask for water from a little pool…

— Rumi

When I was visiting this Ottoman mosque complex in Damascus, I spent most of my time exploring the empty Sufi cells next to the mosque…

When I was following in the footsteps of Rumi and visiting Sufi shrines in Syria, I spent an entire afternoon strolling through the beautiful grounds and ornate rooms of Azem Palace–a masterpiece of 18th century Islamic architecture in the heart of Damascus…

Happy the moment when we, you and I, sit in the palace,
with two forms and two figures but with one soul, you and I.

The beauty of the garden and the birdsong will confer upon us the water of life
at that time when we enter the garden, you and I…

— Rumi

Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joy flew far over the sea.
And he closed his eyes and prayed in the silences of his soul…

— Khalil Gibran

You are growing with all things that grow,
and rising toward your greater self…

— Khalil Gibran

This is Tripoli’s real image…We want to confirm
that the city is a place of coexistence, moderation, peace and sports.

— Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi

Today in Lebanon, thousands of Lebanese and foreign runners took part in a half-marathon in Tripoli–thanks to the recent lull in the city’s violence. Under the slogan “We’ll Keep Running for Peace,” yellow whistles were used in the place of a starting gun to kick off the race.

While I was volunteering this afternoon at the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon/St. Jude in Beirut, the kids and I played a few rounds of Arabic Bingo–while one of their mothers played spirited Sufi songs on her phone. After my shift was over, I stopped in a store on my way home to shop for some summer sandals–and found the sign below for CCCL/St. Jude at the register. To make an online donation to support the cancer treatment of my young friends in Beirut, please click here.

I started off my Sunday morning doing yoga with Fred, my reptilian friend, in the garden. Fred is a natural born master of a few yoga poses, such as Kurmasana (Tortoise Pose) and Supta Kurmasana (Reclining Tortoise Pose)–both of which use pratyahara (sense withdrawal) to draw the focus of the mind and heart inward in preparation for meditation. For those for whom Kurmasana and Supta Kurmasana are too difficult, there’s always Ardha Kurmasana (Half Tortoise Pose)–practiced for relaxation and rejuvenation…

My gamelan group in New York City will be presenting a concert of classical Javanese music at the historic Riverside Church on June 1st from 3:00 – 5:00 pm.

Here is the repertoire:

Ladrang Singa-Singa (laras pelog pathet barang)
Ketawang Larasmaya (laras pelog pathet barang)
Gendhing Tejaningsih minggah Ladrang Playon Bedhayan (laras pelog pathet lima)
Gendhing Onang-Onang, Ladrang Wirangrong (laras pelog pathet nem)
Ladrang Kutut Manggung, Lancaran Kuda Nyongklang (laras pelog pathet barang)

Tai chi is no joke. Earlier this week, when I was having coffee with a friend at an outdoor cafe in Beirut, we saw a middle-aged Lebanese man beating up a young Syrian refugee on the curb. Everyone was too busy sipping their coffee to care or interfere. After leaping instinctively from my seat, all it took was one tai chi move to make the man stop, and give the traumatized refugee time to flee…

“Why are you hitting my child?” I said in Arabic, prompting the man to smile at the absurdity of my claim. There was no obvious connection between me and the tiny shoe-shiner covered in shoe grease–like a character out of Dickens. What the man didn’t know, though, was that the young boy and I have been making art together on the streets of Beirut for months–and recently his mother, still stuck in Syria, asked me to look out for him in her place. Though she and I have never met in person, our hearts are connected through our love and concern for that small boy–a member of Syria’s lost generation–who wants nothing more than to stop shining shoes, and get back to school…

In due course I entered Damascus and there I remained for nearly two years with no other occupation than the cultivation of retirement and solitude, together with religious and ascetic exercises, as I busied myself purifying my soul, improving my character and cleansing my heart for the constant recollection of God most high, as I had learnt from my study of mysticism. I used to go into retreat for a period in the mosque of Damascus, going up the minaret of the mosque for the whole day and shutting myself in so as to be alone…

— al Ghazali (d. 1111 CE)

After al-Ghazali left his prestigious academic post and wealth behind in Baghdad, he embarked on a “mystical” journey to Damascus and Jerusalem. While he was living in Damascus, he taught Sufism at the Umayyad Mosque–where he used to go on spiritual retreats in the highest rooms of the minarets. In fact, his name was connected to the southwestern minaret of the mosque, because of all the time he used to spend in solitude inside of it. He wasn’t alone–many Sufis used to gather and retreat in the spacious rooms of the mosque’s legendary minarets…

I want to take my rightful share of life by force, I want to give lavishly, I want love to flow from my heart, to ripen and bear fruit. There are many horizons that must be visited, fruit that must be plucked, books read, and white pages in the scrolls of life to be inscribed with vivid sentences in a bold hand…

― Tayeb Salih

My gamelan gang in New York City will be playing a klenengan on Saturday, June 21st from 1-6 pm as part of the “Make Music New York” festival. Our musicians will be playing Javanese gamelan music directly in front of the Indonesian Consulate–since 68th Street (between 5th and Madison) will be closed off for the event. From 3:30-4:30 pm, they may also lead a workshop to teach audience members how to play gamelan music. So if you’re in the city that Saturday, stop by and let the meditative sounds of the gamelan soothe your soul on the summer solstice…

Now in its eighth year, Make Music New York, “the largest music event ever to grace Gotham” (Metro New York), is a unique festival of 1,000+ free concerts in public spaces throughout the five boroughs of New York City, all on June 21st, the first day of summer. MMNY takes place simultaneously with similar festivities in more than 726 cities around the world — a global celebration of music making…

Here is a photo of the bronze Phoenician figurines at the National Museum of Beirut that I mention in this beirut.com piece.